THIS year will see the 65th anniversary of the opening of the pithead baths at Prestongrange Colliery, Prestonpans.

The facilities may have only arrived in the final years of the mine’s life but they represented a giant leap forward in the way miners were treated at work.

No longer would men emerge from the mines covered in soot and head home through the streets with blackened faces.

The introduction of the bathhouse meant they could wash the dirt away, change into clean clothes and leave the shift behind on the site, heading home, or to the pub, smartened up and ready for their evenings.

Sadly, Prestongrange Colliery closed 10 years after the bathhouse was created for its workers and the facilities have, over the years, fallen into disrepair.

Ambitious plans to turn the building into a visitors’ centre to home the Battle of Prestonpans Tapestry, recount the history of the famous battle, and restore what remains of the bathhouse – a shower area – have been drawn up by the Battle of Prestonpans Heritage Trust, who are looking for former miners to get in touch and recount their memories of the bathhouse in the 1950s.

And they have worked with the archives at the John Gray Centre to delve into the past and uncover how the opening of the pithead baths were reported in the Courier on September 19, 1952.

The Prestongrange Bathhouse was the 100th pithead baths to be installed by the National Coal Board in Scotland.

At the opening ceremony, James Barbour OBE, director of the board, told those attending that the baths were a boon not only to the miners but to their wives and mothers as well.

The bathhouse was officially opened by veteran miner William Cunningham, who at the age of 66 had spent 52 years working in the mines, starting as a young boy in the year 1900.

Mr Cunningham had spent almost his entire working life at Prestongrange and, at the age of 66, was still in employment underground as a back-brusher.

It was his job to sweep the road clear of rocks and debris as the colliers advanced the coal face.

Despite this, it remains unaccounted how Mr Cunningham felt when the assembled press photographers instructed him to scrub the backs of the first two men to use the showers in a picture opportunity – perhaps taking his job title a little too literally.

A tour of the new facilities revealed rows of shiny, new lockers – one for each miner, who had their own key. There was tiled spray and steam heating throughout.

The installation was described as a standard type which was being introduced across coalfields and cost the Coal Board £63,578, the equivalent of £1.2million in today’s money. It provided bathing and clothes storage accommodation for 969 men, including a well-equipped canteen and a cycle store which had space for 50 bicycles and six motorbikes.

Plans had also been approved to create a new medical centre and lamp cabin across from the clean entrance and pit entrance of the baths building, with these projects still to be completed at the time.

By 1952, with the addition of Prestongrange Bathhouse as the 100th built, the National Coal Board and Miners’ Welfare Fund had provided bathing accommodation for 63,359 men throughout Scotland, who were working in the mines.

Do you have memories of the bathhouse? Perhaps you knew William Cunningham. If so, the battle trust would like to hear from you. They are holding an informal get-together at The Gothenburg, in Prestonpans, next Thursday (March 2) at 5pm.